


Summer does not end with September

by ChocolateVanCandy



Category: A3! (Video Game)
Genre: Gen, Shopping, Slice of Life, Street Act, soft, they're just vibing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-13
Updated: 2020-06-13
Packaged: 2021-03-04 06:26:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,069
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24699043
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChocolateVanCandy/pseuds/ChocolateVanCandy
Summary: «As Yuki heard Tenma shuffle and grumble ("Mmf… stupid Rurikawa… mmnn—Teddy") he looked at the ceiling. As much as he always scolded him, he felt something similar to what his roommate had just said: he missed Shiro already.»Summer Troupe's second play, The Great Sardine Search, is over. In a few days, Autumn will start rehearsing. Summer isn't over yet, though.A little snippet showcasing how attachment with your character goes, how kitties look for sardines and how chaos follows Yuki, not necessarily in that order.
Comments: 8
Kudos: 39





	Summer does not end with September

**Author's Note:**

> Acknowledgement:  
> Viv, thanks for reading this about a thousand times! It'd look waaaay worse without your help, love you lots!

"Hack? What are you doing? Please don't get that dirty with your grubby hands." 

"Wha?!" Surprised, Tenma dropped the vest he was holding. He quickly picked it up, trying to regain his composure: "Oi, my hands aren't dirty, Rurikawa! Can't I just look at my costume one last time?" 

"Well, maybe if you did it at a normal time, I wouldn't be surprised. But you got out of bed at almost 1 in the morning, so it's not like I had a choice about witnessing it."

The younger boy had sat up on his bunker, and looked at Tenma from up there, legs crossed, resting his head in his fist. 

"So are you gonna go back to your bed, or what? I can't sleep with that stupid flashlight you got there."

"Just cover your head and turn around to sleep looking at the wall or something like that!" 

"It's too hot for that, you hack! Summer just ended!" 

Tenma barked a small laugh. 

"It just did, yeah… but I miss it already, heh."

He carefully folded Mikke's clothes back, turned off his flashlight and climbed onto his bed. 

"Good night, Yuki."

"Gross."

\---------- /ᐠ｡ꞈ｡ᐟ\∫ ----------

It had been a week since The Great Sardine Search's closing night. As Yuki heard Tenma shuffle and grumble ("Mmf… stupid Rurikawa… mmnn—Teddy") he looked at the ceiling. As much as he always scolded him, he felt something similar to what his roommate had just said: he missed Shiro already. And he knew Autumn Troupe was already starting rehearsals on their second play next Monday (Tsuzuru had passed out last afternoon), so he had to accept it was time for goodbye. 

"Wait… Mnn, stay just a little longer—" 

"Shut up, hack! Lemme sleep too!" 

Yuki knew Tenma wouldn't listen unless he woke him up, and if that was the case, he wouldn't shut up denying he talked in his sleep. But he still had to complain. He was too bothersome not to. 

\---------- /ᐠ｡ꞈ｡ᐟ\∫ ----------

"Summer Troupe!" 

Yuki heard three voices saying "Aye!". Only three. 

"Oi, hack! I'm still the leader for two more days. So you better listen to me. Today we're going to do some etudes, set in autumn's next play, Stranger. It'll help me get the costumes down."

"Isn't that power abuse?" 

"Shut it. Izumi's busy preparing rehearsal plans for Autumn, so she can't give us any of her regimens. And it's not like the stuff we usually do, so it'll be a nice exercise. Or do you think it's too difficult, hack?" 

"Of course not! This is going to be child's play for Summer Troupe." 

"Then let's do it. Everyone, put your names in here. This is going to be random. Understood?" 

Three "Aye!"s and a grumpy "...whatever" later, they were all in a circle. Muku put his hand in the bag and took out Misumi and Tenma's names. 

"So we're first, huh. Let's see…" Tenma looked at Misumi in the eye, and nodded. 

"Oi, Three! Move over here, quick. I think we can sell this one." 

"Hmm? Oh, you're right, One! It looks like it's made of something real expensive!" 

"Please don't call me that when we're out."

"But you just called me Three…"

"Yeah, but you don't have any other names. You're stuck with Mom's lack of imagination."

"That's not fair!" 

As they bickered in character, Yuki took in all of the ideas that flowed out of the mini stage. He picked up his notebook and started to sketch furiously, especially after Muku and Kazunari joined in the story. It wasn't what they were supposed to do, but with them, it never was. And it worked, even better than expected. It felt like Summer's heat wasn't out yet. 

\---------- /ᐠ｡ꞈ｡ᐟ\∫ ----------

"Hey, Currian. How does this look?" 

Izumi took her eyes off the curry blog she was looking up on her laptop, and picked up the sketchbook. 

"Wow, Yuki! That looks amazing! And it was even faster than usual. Did you connect better with this theme?" 

The boy sighed. "Of course not. Cute kitties are more my style."

He sat next to the troupe's director. 

"Can I take Summer Troupe to buy the materials tomorrow? That money-obsessed yakuza is busy with the script right now, so it's my chance to get some nice stuff." 

"Oh, of course! As long as they want to go, obviously. Don't go too much overboard, though - Sakyo will explode if you do…" 

\---------- /ᐠ｡ꞈ｡ᐟ\∫ ----------

"Guys, we're going out for Autumn's materials today, so grab one of these each." Yuki handed the rest of his troupe tote bags. "Trianglian, you can't run away even if you see any triangles until we're back."

"Oi Yuki, where's your bag?" Tenma looked at his roommate, eyebrow raised. He looked the same as always. 

"Right here, hack." He answered as he pointed at his brown bear pouch, which rested, as usual, on his waist. "Did you go blind or what? Come on everyone, let's roll." 

They all left the dorms before Tenma could start retorting, so he was forced to forget about it and just run to avoid risking getting lost. 

\---------- /ᐠ｡ꞈ｡ᐟ\∫ ----------

"Hey, Yukki! What about this one for the lab coats?" 

"Mmm… Too basic. Try to find something similar, but with a twist."

They had all arrived at the shop, and the rest of the Summer guys were trying to help as much as they could. 

"What about this then? It's the same kind of cloth, but it has triangles!" 

"Oooh, Kaz, you're right! It's full of triangles! Hehe, we have to take this one!" 

"Rejected. Don't encourage the Trianglian, Kazunari." 

Trying didn't necessarily mean success, though. 

"Um, Yuki? What about this?" 

"Mm? It's ragged…" 

"Oh… Yo-you're right! Oh no, how could I offer you this… I'm so sorry, I'm just a pebble in the bottom of the ocean waiting to be swallowed by a fish who's just desperately looking for food…"

"That's… Never mind that. Where did you get this? Ma's costume uses a lot of different materials, and I don't need much of each. Scraps would be perfect for that." 

"Oh, you're right! It's on this box, over here!" 

"Thanks, Muku. Could you bring the rest of the group here?" 

As the pink haired boy nodded and went off, Yuki took his notebook out once more and started to scribble. 

Once the five of them were together again, he ripped the page off and gave it to Kazunari. 

"Okay guys, I'm making Friendly McExtrovert here your leader. Check through the scraps crate and look for the stuff in the note, sizes as close as the ones written down as possible. I'll go look for the other things I need while you do that." 

\---------- /ᐠ｡ꞈ｡ᐟ\∫ ----------

They started rummaging through the box and checking the list as soon as Yuki had left. After a while, everyone knew what they were looking for, and they had a small pile of pieces for him to evaluate when he came back. 

Tenma was sorting the material candidates by size when he came upon a particular piece of cloth. 

"Misumi, this is nothing like what Yuki asked for. It doesn't even have triangles on it, so why on earth did you slip it through?" 

"Turn it around, Tenma! You'll recognize it that way!~"

He did. 

"Wait, this is…" 

\---------- /ᐠ｡ꞈ｡ᐟ\∫ ----------

"Okay, so this thread will be necessary for the shiny lab coats… And that's all of the big stuff covered. Perfect." 

Happy with his haul, Yuki went back to see what the Summer Troupe had found. 

"Tama, we can't go on looking fur more rubber mice, we need to find Shiro right meow!" 

"Aw, but Mikke, this is a purrfect way to look for him! It'll lure him here!" 

"Nice try, kitty, but Kuro is worried sick. His fur is going to fall off at this rate…" Muku looked at Kazunari, who indeed seemed melancholic. 

Suppressing a snort, Yuki went to the front desk and picked up a few accessories, paying for them upfront. He told himself that, although he made the ones they actually used, it wouldn't hurt to have spares for an emergency even if they weren't as cute. And wearing a pair of clip-ons, he approached his troupemates once again. 

"I told you, nyobody can resist little mice, mrow! Shiro will come in a second if we pick a pawr!" 

"Tama, stop trying. Help us find him instead."

And there they were, still on it. Yuki entered, hugging Kazunari from behind. 

"Nya! I finally found you guys! How have nyall been?" He opened his hand, revealing the eight cat ear clip-ons left from the 10-pack he had just bought. Everybody looked surprised, but picked up a pair silently. 

"What's wrong?" Yuki pouted a little. "You guys sounded so pawsitive before I came here…" 

"Don't worry about it, Shiro! So what do you think about all of these toys we found?" Kazunari pointed at the materials they had picked up.

Yuki started looking through what they had selected. He could feel how the rest of the gang was looking at him, though, and it was taking him out of it. 

"You should all wait outside! Maybe look around to see if there's sardines around here? Don't furget to wait fur me, though!" He said it casually, hoping they'd get the message. 

Kazunari nodded, looking stern. He was obviously still channeling Kuro. 

"Alright, but don't take long. Tama is getting clawfully insistent about some mice he wants."

"I told you, those aren't fur me! Hiss!" 

And out they went. Yuki giggled playfully, and instantly got his "I'm so done" face on. 

"Those idiots are contagious, jeez… I just told them to look for cloth. Way to make a mess…" 

Still grumbling, he started to quickly check the scraps. 

\---------- /ᐠ｡ꞈ｡ᐟ\∫ ----------

After visiting the cashier a second time, Yuki picked up the tote bags again, only this time they were filled to the brim. Bringing the rest of his troupe hadn't helped at all with carrying, it seemed, but before he could start thinking on how he would scold them, Muku entered his field of view. 

"Didn't you guys said you'd wait out-" 

"YUKI THIS IS BAD PLEASE HELP US" 

The pink haired boy was frenetic. 

"What did you guys do this time?" Sighing, Yuki gave him some of the bags and continued walking. 

"We went outside as we had planned, but we kept ourselves in character… And then some bystanders started thinking we were doing a street act…" 

"That's… Logical?" 

"Yeah, but the problem is, some started asking who we were among themselves and I was going to say we were from Mankai Company but then I noticed we can't advertise The Great Sardine Search anymore because it's over and I panicked so I came here like a child running off to cry on his big brother's shoulder when he drops a lollipop… "

"So I'm your big brother?" He scoffed. "I mean, I'm the mature one alright. What are those three doing?" Yuki asked, pointing at his troupemates. 

Muku didn't have a chance to answer. 

"This world is clawfully problematic. We lost Shiro earlier and now Nora's also gone! It's fishy, but no sardine! We should go back through the gate the second we reunite." 

"Come on, Kuro. You're overreacting. It's been waaaay meorse before, right, Tama?"

Yuki smiled. He knew how to fix this. Grabbing Muku's sleeve, he approached the others. 

"Mikke's right! Remember where we ended up at last month? No sardines, but also no other fish… " He quickly glanced at Kazunari, who nodded cheerfully before going back into Kuro mode. He had gotten the message. 

"That's the worst place we've been at." He sighed, and started pantomiming. "The sun shone over the desert. People were fighting. Bang! Bang!" 

"They really needed to chill." Muku had caught up, it seemed. "But there was no catnip, or no other plants…" 

"Remember that redhead who patted Tama's head? I was so worried, but she was nice. Her friend was in a hurry, though…" 

"I know, Mikke… I wonder what happened to them. She said she'd love to take me with her, but she had no home, or nothing else…" 

"Don't worry!" Yuki raised his voice, now out of character, and took his ears out. 

"Their story will soon be told at Mankai Company's next production: Stranger on the way to Paradise!" 

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you liked this! If you've got any thoughts, please tell me! I'd love to see what comments you guys have~


End file.
